The Hunsakers

Mother Goose Olympics

2012-02-09T21:32:00.007-07:00

I think pre-school teachers need a lot more recognition than they get. The ones I've dealt with and the ones I see on other people's blogs are all so talented at what they do! There is no end to their creativity and you can't tell me it's easy to get a class of 3-4 year olds to write their names, count to 100, and know the name and sound of each letter. Amazing! Here's one of the creatively fun things London did last week at pre-school. It was called Mother Goose Olympics. There was Bah Bah Black Sheep Black Garbage Bag Races, Simple Simon Met a Pie Man Pie Hat Races, Diddle Diddle Dumpling My Son Jon Sock Contests, and then here's our gal in Jack Be Nimble Jack Be Quick Candle Hopping. Tim, who did hurdles in high school and college, was so darn proud of this one!

They also made these little Humpty Dumpty men out of crushed and painted egg shells. Crafts are another thing I appreciate about pre-school teachers because I'm just not the type of mom that says, "Hey kids, let's make a huge mess by doing crafts all day." Just not me. But I knows kids like to do them so I'm glad there's a place for that. :)

I guess they spent the whole week making this Dinosaur Egg Pinata and then on the last day of the week they got to crack it open and out came lots of little tiny toy dinosaurs..and candy of course!

And here she is because she made the 100's club, meaning she counted to 100 for the whole class. They get 100 M&M's in a little box. She is also in her pajamas here because it was pajama day for "P" week.

I've heard pre-school also referred to as "lazy parenting" but I really and truly disagree. If you have kids like mine, which most of you do, they are going to do things better for other people than for you. It's just how it works and I don't know why. Plus, being social is just as important as learning. But I will stop here before my soap box gets too big and offensive. :)

Ode to My Chair

2012-01-29T20:01:00.005-07:00

Do you see this chair right here?...

And this foot stool right here?

Well, they are totally gross. They are made out of that fake leather stuff that shows EVERYTHING. Which wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have dogs and cats constantly rubbing up against them, the stool seems to be just the perfect place for kids to set food on, and I've even caught London wiping her mouth off on the arm of the chair. All totally gross stuff right? But the thing is, is that I still just love it so much (actually, I could do without the foot stool because EVERY toddler that enters my house leans on that thing and tips it over within seconds which drives me crazy) but the chair means so much to me because of all the many hours I have spent rocking and rocking my babies in it. I seem to bring home babies that need to be nursed about every hour for about three months so I rock and rock and rock and rock them. It can be annoying at times, but mostly I love it because I've learned they won't be small enough to rock forever. Although Roman still grabs a cracker and the remote and then insists that I rock him. It's a daily thing. But it's so cute, so even though this chair is gross no matter how many times I clean it, I still can't part with it because of all the great memories. I even caught London rocking Roman this week when he was so super sick. It was darling!

On another note, we shaved our cat this week. Isn't she so sweet!!! Ok, so she looks like a rat, but I love her. :)

Switch-A-Roo

2012-01-16T22:53:00.005-07:00

Tim told me he was taking the kids upstairs to get them in their jammies and they came down like this. Good old dad! I guess Roman makes a pretty cute baby girl and London makes a cute long haired boy. (Please excuse the thousands of toys in the background, I wasn't planning on a picture moment.)

Roman was laughing so hard!

Here's another one of dad's ideas. Giving our chocolateaholic (not me, the other one) two spoons and a jar of nutella. He was loving life!

Now THIS is a Bucket List

2012-01-10T17:49:00.003-07:00

So I've always thought Bucket Lists, or things you want to do before you die, are so funny because as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and having a vast knowledge of the after life, I know that none of the things on a bucket list are going to benefit you once you get to the other side. Maybe some of them might teach you a little self discipline, but really it's just a great big selfish thing and just another venue to brag about yourself. Neither of which will help you out on the other side. So when I got this list, written by Julie B. Beck, I was so happy to finally see a list with some real purpose. I mean don't you think there are spirits up there going, "I wish she'd clock a few less miles on that treadmill and a few more hours in the temple so I could have my ordinances done for me." So here's the list and it's also painted on the wall of the Relief Society Display in the Relief Society Building in Salt Lake City.

Essential to have on your list: The things that must be taken care of and if I don't take care of them, the blessings of eternal life won't be mine nor will they be the blessings of my family.

1. Revelation
2. Pray always
3. Daily Scripture Study
4. Time to ponder and fast
5. Making and keeping covenants (sacrament and temple)
6. Love one another

Necessary: Things we have to do as a part of mortal life in order to be self-reliant and be of service to our families and the Lord.

1. Marriage and Family relationships
2. Homemaking (cooking, cleaning, working)
3. Self-reliance and provident living
4. Temple and family history
5. Sharing the gospel
6. Church service
7. Compassionate Service

Nice-To-Do: These add variety to our lives, but they won't save us.

1. Hobbies/crafts
2. Recreational reading
3. Lunch with friends
4. Movies
5. Travel
6. Blogging and recreational computer time

Then she asks "What's on your list?"

I just thought this was so great in a world where priorities are so messed up. Even nice things start to take us away from what's important. I've always said, that's how Satan gets the righteous people, he just gets us to focus on silly hobbies a little too hard. Anyway, just thought I would share because I know this woke me up a little bit.

Christmas Morning!!

2011-12-29T20:41:00.011-07:00

I found the angel, now where's Mary?

2011-12-19T12:05:00.015-07:00

I like to collect Nativity Scenes and thanks to some great gifts each year from my sister-in-laws and my mom I've got a good little collection going. I try to get a new one each year even if it's just a small one.

Well this year there has been one character in particular who has been quite popular. Can you guess?

Yep, it's Mary. (This one looks pretty good considering Roman sent her flying with a sword) London is very interested in her, not because she's a girl, but because she is pregnant. London is OBSESSED with pregnancy. She makes me watch that TLC show, A Baby Story, all the time. She is constantly shoving towels up her and Roman's shirts to make them look pregnant. Pretty much if she ever hears the word she's all ears. But the funny thing is, is that she doesn't care for the finished product AT ALL. As soon as they give birth on The Baby Story, she tells me she is through watching it. When I bring up the idea of having another baby she just tells me that they are loud and they cry all the time and if I bring another home she will just go up to her room and lock the door. Which is probably why I find the Manger Scenes looking like this a lot.

Marys on one side.

And the baby Jesus' lined up and off by themselves somewhere.

One time I found this and I thought that was pretty funny too.

Her and the other little girls in Primary got to dress up as angels for the Nativity Scene at the ward party and she was super excited for that. They all looked so cute and had tons of fun spreading their angel dust around......and speaking of angel dust, we all know these right?

I always thought they were okay, but nothing great. I could take or leave them. If I'm going to indulge in a treat I usually want it homemade and involving chocolate somehow, but I read on a friend's blog about how her mom used to buy these when she was younger and put them in the freezer for all the kids to have as an after school snack. I thought I'd buy a bag and maybe London and Roman would like them frozen too, but I did sneak a frozen one for myself and it was soooo super good. I highly recommend it once all of the hundreds of plates of Christmas cookies lying around everyone's kitchen are gone. Happy Holidays!

Spain Table

2011-12-12T15:59:00.010-07:00

We had this fabulous dinner for our Relief Society and the theme was Christmas Around the World. Each table was decorated like a different country and I signed up to do Spain since Tim served his mission there and we have lots of cool stuff. All the tables looked so beautiful and I was really bummed that I had forgotten my camera so I decided to recreate the Spain table at our house. And since the table looked so great I HAD to cook the cuisine to go with it. We had our appetizer platter of manchego cheese, kalamata olives, breads, and of course the meats of salchichon, jamon serrano, and chorizo cantimpalo. Then there was the tomato salad and last but not least lentil bean soup that cooked all day and made my house smell so great. If you've never had lentil bean soup there is a fabulous recipe on allrecipes.com under sausage lentil soup and be sure to add a splash of balsamic vinegar to your bowl before eating. It adds a great zip.

So here's the table

Here's the appetizer platter

Here's me and my little sous chef in our matching aprons.

And pretty much every time I turned around this little dude was digging this bowl out of the cupboard and putting it on his head. I thought it was a great contribution. :)

Teddy Bear Toss!

2011-12-05T16:06:00.005-07:00

We are regulars at the Wrangler's hockey games here in town. We have been big hockey fans ever since we lived in Boise and my Canadian brother-in-law got us hooked on it. Every year at Christmas time the Wranglers host a teddy bear toss. The fans bring teddy bears and as soon as the Wranglers score their first goal everyone tosses the bears onto the ice. The players round them all up real fast and then the bears are given to needy children in the area. What a great idea!! Don't you just love how Christmastime is full of opportunities to give like this? I'm also grateful to other programs like Toys for Tots, Letters to Santa, and Giving Trees so that even if you may not know anyone in need you still can give to them amongst all your other shopping. Sprout T.V. does this really cute thing where you can go online and choose a book and some jammies for certain kids. There's also this great thing here called Baby's Bounty. My New Year's resolution is to donate to them monthly. What they do is pack diaper bags full of all sorts of baby stuff and give it to the mother's here in Vegas who really need them. But EVERYTHING has to be new, even the diaper bags, and each diaper bag has to be a certain size and contain a certain amount of all the necessary goods. I guess they spend hours and hours putting diaper bags together each week. Right now I can't really volunteer to put the bags together (although I think that sounds super fun) but I can pick up an item each time I'm at Wal-mart. Anyway, we had a great time tossing our bears (we actually threw a zebra and a giraffe) and since Tim's company is now the official sponsor of the Wrangler's they had a company deal where we all got to sit in the ice box right up next to the glass and eat some goodies. The players smashed into the glass so hard that they spilled all the drinks of the table next to us. But it was fun being that close!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T22:19:00.008-07:00

We decided to make the LONG and COLD drive to Idaho to see some grandparents. We went to Rupert first and it's a good thing we did because that is where the snow was. I thought for sure Rexburg would have more, but it was actually really nice and sunny there. Go figure. I got my shopping fix in Rexburg at all my favorite small stores. There's just something about small and personal stores that make it so much more fun to shop there than big department stores where it's all mass produced. Porter's even sells candy behind the counter that has to be measured out. So old fashioned, but so great!

Hat Day!

2011-11-27T22:13:00.004-07:00

London goes to two different pre-schools and they are both so great. At Miss Erika's Lil Academy they had hat day and the kids all looked so cute!

Messy Messy Love

2011-11-13T20:06:00.006-07:00

Okay, this post isn't really about messy love. It's about one kid who is a mess and one kid who has discovered love :).

These next two pictures happened the same day. The first is actually a brown sharpie he got into and drew between his eyes. When we first noticed it Tim thought it was blood and I thought it was something a little more on the stinky side. The next picture you have to look closely, but he has sparkles all over his eyes. He got into London's play make-up which has lots of glitter and the next thing I knew he had very pretty eyes.

And here he's just had enough of me bothering his mess making.

Now on to London's one true love. So the other day she says to me, "Mom, let's start naming off cute boys." (We actually play this game a lot now a days) So I began naming off boys in her pre-school class and her responses were things like "ewww" "gross" "not him" Then I said, "Well, what about Justin Bieber?" She got all shy and red in the face and went under the table and said, "Well maybe I could think about him being handsome." So funny. Even a four year old loves the Biebs.

I told her to smile really big, but she just said, "Mom, I'm doing my best here!"

Strength of a Family

2011-11-06T20:47:00.005-07:00

So this post is due to a few things I have heard or seen or felt this week. Because of the gospel principles that guide most of our lives, we understand the importance of family. One lady made a great point in gospel doctrine last week. She said that all God does all day long every day is serve his kids, that's it, and that's all He WANTS to do. That's the way to happiness. This is mostly for moms, but think about what we do all day. We make three meals which includes meal planning and grocery shopping, clean non-stop so the family has a comfortable environment, do the laundry so the family has clean dry clothes, think of crafts and games to keep them happy and learning, run them to school and activities so they have joy and fulfillment. I could go on and on. That's a lot of serving that can only be learned through motherhood. I will be the first to admit that sometimes I wish I was off somewhere else on my own, but really...this is the most happy I have ever been in my life. Sure, I had a ton of fun in high school and college, but serving little souls all day long, and a fabulous husband of course :), just brings so much peace. Does that make sense? I had a great talk one day with my sister-in-law, Amy Jo Hunsaker. I was feeling frustrated about my feet because I feel like my injuries have stopped me from doing many things I love, but she started talking about how she has felt frustrated about some things in her life and she decided to just get rid of all the outside influences that cause her anger and just focus on her kids and she said she has felt so much peace. She even cleaned out her room of all distraction so she has to be downstairs more where the family life is taking place. What a great idea! So I have been trying that. Trying not to feel bad for myself and to just focus on the gospel and the family. And today this scripture was discussed in Sunday School..."For bodily exercise profiteth for a little while, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." (1 Tim 4:8) Now I am in no way saying you shouldn't exercise because you SHOULD, it's important to, but I was so focused on doing it, that I lost sight of many other things and that, my friends, is WRONG. In fact I think I was falling to one of Satan's greatest tools on Latter Day Saint Women, distracting us with our hobbies. I think he knows what we like, and tries to get us to go overboard with it by comparing ourselves to others and putting so much time into it that we soon neglect our family. I think he's doing a pretty good job at that actually. So I'm trying to learn to fight him on that and only do what's appropriate as far as "me time" goes because "me time" can very soon turn into neglect of the kids and spouse. I have seen it time and time again. So here are a few pictures of the little kiddos that I get to spend time serving all day and I hope all you moms out there enjoy your time serving your adorable little ones too!

Down Here On The Floor

2011-03-06T15:00:00.013-07:00

Our little Roman is as cute as a button, but refuses to crawl. He is super strong (just ask my hair which he pulls all the time) and he knows how to scooch around on his bottom, but he won't crawl. Some moms tell me not to worry, but he is pretty much 11 months old now so...I'm worried. Which has led me to spending an incredible amount of time down on the floor playing with and encouraging him. Although we're not making too much progress in the crawling area, I have realized that most of the good times I have spent with my kids involve them doing things down on the floor. I'll show you what I mean.

We opend our Christmas presents down here on the floor.

I'll push him around down here on the floor.

We share snacks with our friends down here on the floor.

We mess up mom's things down here on the floor.

I'm usually lying down here on the floor.

I've got a buddy down here on the floor.

Perhaps conceived down here on the floor?

Taken control of the game room down here on the floor.

So although I want him to move (which I know I will regret saying as soon as he does it) it's been pretty fun hanging out with these two cuties down on the floor.

A Little Behind?

2010-12-05T21:01:00.008-07:00

I've been a little sporadic at this blog thing lately, but I'll give it another go. Here are a few pictures of our ward 3k. London ran over half of it and took first in her age group. We were so proud of her (she may have been the only three year old in the race). They had cute little participation medals for everyone made out of Oreos.

We went to Utah for Halloween. So here is London as a princess along with Johnie as a vampire and Davy as a Robot.

Here's our cute little pumpkin.

Can I Have Just One Smile?

2010-10-06T21:00:00.011-06:00

London's a bit of a goof when it comes to taking photos. I'll let the pictures do the talking!

Now that's better.

And here's my cute 6 monther.

3 years and 4 months

2010-08-13T10:52:00.006-06:00

London turned three this summer and had a fun little princess party with some friends. She's loves being a big sister...well most of the time she does, but we love her tons and are always so amazed at her quick wit! And Roman turned four months yesterday. The little chuncker weighs in at 15 pounds 5 ounces and it's all in the thighs and cheeks. So cute!

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-21T16:51:00.002-06:00

We didn't do too much for Father's Day, but Tim had a great day all the same since he's got two cute kiddos like these!

a few pictures

2010-05-21T11:41:00.008-06:00

He's Here!

2010-04-21T19:17:00.006-06:00

Roman Timothy Hunsaker joined our family on April 12th at 7:55 a.m. He was 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 19 in. We're so happy he's finally here! Here's some pictures of the little guy.

Hippity Hoppity

2010-04-05T12:18:00.007-06:00

My friend, Anne, hosted such a cute Easter party for these kids. They played games and had an egg hunt. I wanted to get a picture of the adorable party favors she made, but by the time I remembered to do it we had eaten them....oops! Here's some cute pictures anyway.

She was really good and just dyed Easter eggs quietly so I could listen to General Conference. I was very impressed!

I know this blog seems to be dedicated to London, but when you have kids that's kind of how it goes. Pretty soon she'll have to share her spotlight, I hope that goes over well. But there is one thing I can say about the lives of just Tim and I. We had our 5 year wedding anniversary this past week. In this day and age that's saying something. Natalie was nice enough to watch London so we went to The Kona Grill at Boca Park. It was really yummy if any of you ever want to try it. Thanks Tim for all the good times we've had and here's to five more...we'll go from there. :)

Cousins, Cousins, Everywhere

2010-03-29T10:59:00.024-06:00

My brother, Todd, and his son, Nick, flew into Vegas from Texas for their Spring Break. They came to pick up our 1999 Oldsmobile Alero that they purchased from us for Nick since he's now a driver! I'm glad I got to keep the car in the family, old cars have such sentimental value. It's funny because I drove Todd's old car all through high school and now his son is driving my old car all through high school. They could only stay one night because it's a LONG drive back to Dallas, but we had some fun while they were here.

These ones aren't of cousins, just some super cute girly friends at a park playgroup.

Tim's sister, Amy, and her kids came down and spent the week for their Spring Break. I kept forgetting to bring my camera, but it was so much fun to have them here. London even had a sleepover at Aunt Kate's with all the cousins. She was more than anxious to get Tim and I out of the house so she could play and sleep with Darby all night by herself. It's been crazy to go from a super clingy child to Little Miss Independent lately, but I must say it's nice too. Especially with another one on the way. We really weren't expecting her to stay the night, so we kind of just went home and looked at each other like, "What do we do without her?" It was funny.

Art Class and Lions

2010-03-15T15:38:00.008-06:00

I started realizing that London was getting VERY bored just hanging with me all day, so I enrolled her in a few classes. These are pictures of her Messy Art class. It's been a lot of fun. This particular project was a water color butterfly, but they have done projects with pudding, shaving cream, paint on marbles rolled around, paint on spaghetti splashed around, and then today they made slime and play dough. The other pictures are of her and Tim at the MGM grand. She kept calling the lion Aslan. When Tim and his dad took her down to the strip, some people, foreigners obviously, asked if they could have a picture with her because they had never seen a white little girl with blond hair and blue eyes before. I thought that was pretty funny.

Cupcake Party!

2009-10-25T21:14:00.011-06:00

Some friends and I have started a weekly playgroup. It's been lots of fun for the kids and for us. We've started doing little crafts and this last week we made Halloween cupcakes. I think they turned out really cute. London is one of the oldest there, but the only one without a baby brother. Maybe it's a sign?

Here's all the cute kiddos. Notice how London finds it necessary to squint while saying "cheese".

For those of you who have heard non-stop talk from London about her best friend Sydney...here's a picture to put a face to the stories. Isn't she adorable!!!!

Jessie and Madden are also new found favorite friends!

Madden took London on a little tractor ride.

London also thinks saying "cheese" means to squish your cheeks together.

That's better.

Sleepover Friend

2009-08-27T18:11:00.003-06:00

I went to check on London before I went to sleep and this is how I found her and her kitty. I like how they are pretty much sleeping in the same position.

Barca!!!

2009-08-06T19:48:00.008-06:00

Tim and I and a bunch of friends drove down to L.A. for the Galaxy vs. Barcelona game. It was a great game. 93,000 fans were there to support. Needless to say we didn't get out of the parking lot for about three hours after the game, but I guess that's part of the experience. Here's a few things I found interesting about the game.

1. Everyone booed when Beckam had the ball, until he made this amazing goal, then all of a sudden he was the hero of the game. It's amazing how 93,000 people can be so fickle.

2. The fans around us were so RUDE to each other. This one lady came running out of the stands to push these two girls, who were standing up at the very bottom of the bleachers (not in anyone's way) over. Really weird.

3. Some guy in a visor (which is fine if you wear one, but it might just mean you can't offer fashion advice) yelled at this super cool looking kid to sit down and take his ugly shirt off (his shirt was very in style). I turned around and said "Oh, this coming from the guy in the visor." He looked right at me, but I don't think he heard me, but why did he have to pick on a guy who was just minding his own business?

4. The girl sitting next to me came in like ten minutes late, took one look at my purse that I had sat in her spot, then glared at me and said in a very snobby way, "These are OUR seats!" She then proceeded to be pretty annoying throughout the whole game to other people.

5. Eva Longoria was there at half time promoting a group that supports Latinos with cancer, but I don't think many people realized who it was just because there was so much other commotion going on. But I thought it was neat of her to come and promote such a great cause. She was the eye candy for the men because there was plenty there for the ladies!

6. And for those of you who want to hear about the actual game, it was great. Barcelona looked a ton sharper than L.A. and had much fancier foot work, but that's to be expected.

6 Unimportant Things That Make Me Happy!

2009-07-11T18:10:00.010-06:00

My fabulous sister-in-law, Jen, had this on her blog and I thought it was a great way to appreciate the small things in life. Try it out. I am only going to tag one person, Cassie. I think she is a way cool girl and would like to know the six simple things that she loves!

I can't go a morning without this. I measure out the milk and it makes for a great breakfast of 350 calories. Not too bad. There's just something I love about drinking your breakfast. And don't get me started on how much the cute mug from Starbucks that I drink it out of makes me happy!

I have VERY high arches. If I was a ballerina, it would look great, but I have no interest in dancing, just sports, running especially. Running and high arches are a great way to get plantar fasciitis..which I now have. These arch supports make me SO HAPPY. It was getting to a point where the pain was making me cry, but these little puppies have soothed my soul.

My theory is, if your house smells good, it looks good too. So I try to keep these on hand and burning at all times!

I can think of two television shows I wouldn't want to give up, but the rest I don't really care about. It's movies that I love and I'm always excited to see that Netflix envelope in my mailbox. Plus, let's admit it ladies, we all have our Holleywood crushes (mine is Edward Norton, hands off please :)) so you can look up everything they've done and just Netflix them all. Plus there are tons of kid's shows you can watch online so you don't have to hear the same show over and over and over and over.

Every stay-at-home mom needs her saving grace. Mine is weekly volleyball. The women who go have all played in high school or higher so it's a pretty strict bump, set, spike regime, which I like. It's a great group of ladies and if the competition is right, it's a great workout and stress reliever.

O.P.I. nail polish. I love going online and seeing all the new names of colors these guys come up with. They are so funny. I'd love to meet the people who have this job. Very creative. You can't help but want your toes to be painted in "Kinky in Helsinki" "Shootout at the O.K. Coral" "Up the Amazon Without a Paddle" or "Paint My Moji-toes"

London's Second Birthday

2009-07-05T21:06:00.008-06:00

Corpus Christi

2009-06-26T09:59:00.012-06:00

Every year my family goes to Corpus Christi. The island we stay on is actually called Mustang Island. We rent condos right on the beach. It's really the only time we ever see each other, so I look forward to it every year. Now because my family is a bit high strung, there are usually a few fights during this trip. But I am proud to say there were no doors slammed, keys thrown, tires screeching across the pavement (you get the point). Everyone was very calm and nice. In fact I think the only curse words thrown around were those used in a joking format. So good job family. Nothing a little lithium can't cure :) (I'm kidding).

Okay, I'm a horrible wife, but a great mom. I sprayed sunscreen lotion on Tim's back, but was so worried about my little pale daughter in the sun, that I didn't rub in the sunscreen and this is the result. It does show how well the sunscreen works in the places it was applied. My family gave me a lot of crap for this one so you don't have to comment on it!

Our kite flew GREAT there.

London's sand castle.

My sand castle.

My fabulous sister-in-law and niece, Kim and Kourtney.

Our New Home

2009-06-19T12:39:00.010-06:00

My brother, Todd, has been yelling at me to get some pictures posted of our new house. So this one's for you big bro. Love ya!

Here's the Living Room with my adorable American Bulldog doing what she does best, lying down. She's so lazy and chubby, but I love her to pieces! There's a spare room, eating area, and bathroom off of this room as well.

This is the Master Bedroom and Bath. I know, it looks purple. The previous owner's painted the whole upstairs this shade of brown and I'll eventually get it all changed. I just hate painting.

Hallway from Master Bedroom looking down to London's room. There's two rooms off to the left and a bathroom off to the right.

Back Porch. No grass, that's the desert for ya. New homes cannot have grass. But we have lots of fruit trees which should be fun.

Reno-Tahoe Odyssey

2009-06-09T16:32:00.007-06:00

The Reno-Tahoe Odyssey is a 178 mile relay, divided between 12 runners, and about 24 hours. The race begins in Reno, goes all the way down to South Lake Tahoe, then back up through Carson and Virginia City, and finally ends again in Reno. Each runner is assigned three different legs throughout the race, with each leg varying in degrees of difficulty. Although I ran about 16 miles total, I had the second to easiest leg, so you can tell I ran with some pretty amazing runners. We called ourselves The Legs of Las Vegas and our vans had stuffed legs with shoes on hanging off of them. We wrote things like “Luscious Leg Syndrome” and “Leaving Las Legas” on our vans. We were an all women’s team and we took first place in the Women’s Open Division! For the overall results, there were 105 teams and we took 19th! So like I said, these women were amazing. I learned a lot from them and they had me running faster than I knew I could, at three in the morning, on two hours of sleep in a bar parking lot.  Sounds like good times right? It really was. My first leg went right around Lake Tahoe at dusk and it was so pretty! I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t running my hardest and adjusting to an elevation change all at the same time. I’ve done a lot of athletic events in my life, but never a team running race and the friendships you build with perfect strangers is amazing. How it worked is we had two vans of six women. While one van ran, the other van drove to the next exchange point to eat and sleep. We finally finished in 24 hours and 26 mins. I was the 12th leg so I got to run in to the finish line and by that time I was EXHAUSTED so I am just really happy I didn’t mess up our first place win. I think we only beat the next team by about two minutes. There was another women’s team, The Tahoe Trail Babes, who were in the Women’s Masters Division, and they did beat us by about two hours. I give them props though because to be in the Master’s category, you all have to be 40 or older. So way to go ladies! Here’s a couple of pictures of the event, and if any of my teammates are reading this, thank you for inviting me to be on your team. I hope I can increase my speed so I can keep up with you all for next year!

You Can Call Him Doctor!

2009-05-27T20:56:00.005-06:00

Tim graduated with his Doctorate in Audiology a few weeks ago and I'm so PROUD of him. I have a new respect for any kind of doctor because I've seen what they are put through and it's amazing they make it out. The audiology program was just switched over from a masters to a doctorate about five years ago, so even the professors were getting used to the new program. Needless to say, mistakes were made and it was refreshing to hear the head of the program admit to Tim that they did a lot of things wrong. Thank you for finally admitting your mistakes and not blaming the students for EVERYTHING. Just some stuff :) Anyway, congrats to Timmy and all his fellow classmates who graduated with him or will do so in the next year! You guys deserve it! Here's a few pictures of the graduation and the dinner we held for Tim after.

The Showdown at Sundown

2009-04-08T09:47:00.006-06:00

I recently participated in The Showdown at Sundown triathlon at Lake Las Vegas. The race is called this because it doesn't start until 3:30 p.m. Which actually REALLY made the day drag on because I was so nervous. I had a great time. When people would ask me if I was nervous, I would tell them that as soon as the swim was over I would be fine..okay...was I ever wrong. The swim went great, who knew I could swim because I sure didn't, I think my adrenaline was just pumping extra hard. But the bike completely and utterly kicked my butt! I did not know that half of the bike course was consecutively uphill. Wow! I sure hadn't trained for that and did it ever hurt my bike time, and my thighs, and my hiney, and my lungs! I was told that it's a hard transition to go from biking to running, but I was so tired after the bike, I didn't even think about it. I just wanted to finish. Overall it was such a beautiful race at Lake Las Vegas and I had a ton of fun. I think I would recommend triathlons over marathons. I only did a half marathon, but it was way harder on my body and I was much more exhausted when it was over. At the end of the race there was your typical bagels and fruit, but everyone got a free beer card. I thought that was hilarious. I gave my beer card to a guy who summed up this race very well. In his words, "The swim was great, the bike was a bitch, and the run was fun." Cheers!

FAO Schwartz at Ceasar's Palace

2009-02-19T20:12:00.008-07:00

It's hard to get a good picture of a little girl in a toy store, but we tried. One thing I like about living in Vegas is the strip is right at your fingertips if you ever need it, but then you can go home and pretend it's not there!

I thought this display was a bit on the creepy side. I guess you choose a doll out of the "nursery" to adopt. It just looks really strange and cost a whole big bunch.

Does anyone share my pain!!!!!?

2009-01-17T21:36:00.004-07:00

I am so sad Pushing Daisies was canceled. If any of you didn't like it for some reason please let me in on it because I thought it was the best show to hit television in a long time. It was so incredibly unique to me. As one review states "it comes with an arch narrator and a lot of candy-colored, computer generated bucolic scenery, and that alone could discourage dyspeptics and others allergic to even the faintest hint of magical realism. But the story of Ned, a young man who can bring the dead back to life, is sweetly odd, but also oddly charming." For those of you who didn't see it, you can get the whole first season from Netflix. Let me know what you think. I'm just so upset. Maybe it wasn't trashy enough to make the cut, although Chenoweth shows a fair amount of skin. And you do find yourself craving a whole lot of pie :)

London at Christmas

2008-12-30T09:43:00.013-07:00

London, like most children, is terrified of Santa. She was crying mid transfer to his lap.

This picture was taken in Vegas. For those of you who didn't know, we got a snowstorm here. It's like the biggest one they've ever had and it's our first winter here. Go figure. I can't get away from it!!!!!

Nika is London's only girl cousin here in Vegas and London thinks Nika is the coolest. She copies her all the time. It's so cute.

This is London's favorite present. Her and the cat hang out in it all
day!

Las Vegas Half Marathon

2008-12-10T13:06:00.006-07:00

Tim and I ran the Las Vegas Half Marathon this Sun. There were just under 15,000 runners. WOW! It was a lot of fun. They had many entertaining things along the way to help make the long distance a little less painful. There was a huge firework display at the start, then we ran down the strip, there were Elvis impersonators everywhere, some ladies with Jesus posters shouted at us that Jesus was happy we were running, but that we should also be at church :), there was a run through chapel at mile five, and then the last four miles went down Industrial Ave... otherwise known as stripper row. So it was fun, but let me tell you, those last four miles hurt like crazy. It felt like there were nails in my knees. Luckily Tim was there to encourage me not to walk, or I might have started to crawl.... and cry. We ran the whole way, which was our goal, so I guess it went well. I did walk a few yards at mile twelve because I stopped for gatorade and just couldn't figure out how to run again. It may not have been the most scenic run, but it was a good one to do for a first marathon because it was flat the whole way. Now if I can just stop limping I'll chalk it up to a good experience!!!!!

Book Group

2008-12-04T11:49:00.003-07:00

I've joined a book group here in Vegas and I've really enjoyed it. It started out as the Mommy and Me East Las Vegas Book Group, but since the Mommy and Me Group no longer exists, it's open to anybody. It consists of women from all different backgrounds, religious beliefs, and careers so there's always intellectual discussion from many various view points. I'm actually taking over as the coordinator for this group, so if anyone out there in the area is interested in joining, let me know. One person from the group picks a book for the month and the restaurant we eat at. We try to match the restaurant style with the theme of the book. It's really fun. The book for this month was The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. We always discuss the history of the author before the book so it's quite informational. I think the general consensus for this book was that it's a clever story line, it's a great classical book, but it's not something you'd read for pure entertainment purposes. There's pages and pages of character descriptions that you kind of find yourself skimming over. But overall it was a perfect story for the Halloween season and I think it should be made into a movie. It also gives good insight on how the upper class could be a curse. Our next book is The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I hear it's a pretty heavy and emotional read so proceed with caution.

A little Twilight humor

2008-11-24T09:55:00.004-07:00

Hey all you Twilight fans...or not so big of fans. This is a link for a cartoon clip drawn by my sister-in-law's sister, Ginger Armstrong. She does a lot of drawings for story books and things, but I think her comics are great. This clip made me laugh really hard! I think she's summarized things well. Check it out.

http://scargut-the-gutless.deviantart.com/art/Methinks-Bella-likes-Edward-99242138

Pictures of London

2008-11-08T11:18:00.003-07:00

Bone Marrow Donor

2008-10-17T20:43:00.003-06:00

Tim just happens to be a bone marrow match to a 48 year old male with lymphoblastic lymphoma. It's incredibly rare to be a match to someone who is not a relative, so it's pretty neat that Tim matches up so well. Three years ago Tim signed up to be a donor and about a month ago they called up my sister in Boise looking for Tim. I don't know how they got her information. She isn't even related to him, her last name is Perez, she only moved to Boise about two years ago, and Tim never gave out any information about her. So they were very determined to track him down! Anyway, they don't have to go through the pelvic bone anymore. It's still an option, but now they have what's called Peripheral blood stem cell donation (PBSC). After flying him down to L.A. for a physical, he will come back here and receive five injections of filgrastim. This will move stem cells from the bone marrow into the bloodstream. The side effects could be having a headache for seven days or just feeling like you have the flu, but still better than the alternative of having your hip ripped open! After the injections he will be flown to L.A. again for two days of four hour sessions of having his blood drained. For those of you who know Tim, he hates having blood drawn. So for him to commit to eight hours of it is going to be rough, but I'm really proud of him for doing this. I don't know of anybody who would say no to it, but still he's the one who's got to do it. Good Luck Timmy!!!

Bass Pro Shops

2008-10-05T21:03:00.013-06:00

We aren't big on hunting, but we really enjoyed the Bass Pro Shops. London kept pointing at the stuffed lions and saying "kitty". I guess they looked enough like Daphne that she recognized them as cats. My favorite was the fish tank. Check out the size of those sting rays! We were told that later on in the day a mermaid gets in the tank. Only in Vegas will you see a half naked lady in with a nature exhibit!

2008-09-04T21:54:00.008-06:00

Here's a few picture's of our hiking trip this past weekend. You don't get too far with kiddos, but it was fun to see some trees!

I LOVE this dog! I'm not too sure if Adam and Kate wanted to bring her, but they didn't want to hurt my feelings :) Thanks for putting up with her stinky breath in your truck!

I'm not too sure what Tim is doing here, but I thought it was funny.

Hooray for 10K!

2008-08-19T21:58:00.002-06:00

Tim and I are running the Las Vegas half marathon in December so I decided it was time we got our rears in gear. We signed up for the Fireman and Policeman 10K Fun Run last Saturday and it was really fun. It was very well organized and actually a very pretty run if you can believe that of Vegas. I finished in 57 min. and Tim in 61 min. Not too bad. One thing is for sure, when you enter a race, you realize how many people are in so much better shape than you. The fastest lady finished in 41 min. and then turned around and did the 5k that started one hour after the 10k. wow! Anyway, it was a good start to our training and a good way to judge where you stand. At least I can beat Tim right?! :) In his defense he didn't even train so he did great to do it in just over an hour. Oh and thanks Aunt Kate for babysitting at 5:30 a.m.!!

My Significant Other!

2008-08-04T13:15:00.004-06:00

I saw this survey on my friend Wendi's page and I thought it was a cute way to pay tribute to your hubby

1. What is his name? Timothy James Hunsaker

2. Who eats more? If Tim stays active (which is usually), then he get more hungry than me, but for instance this last year with his school, he just didn't get hungry and I was eating lots!

3. Who said I love you first? Me, I'm a bit aggressive.

4. Who is taller? Tim, by about 6 inches

5. Who is smarter? Tim, hello, doctorate degree compared to all my mall jobs :) I had a lot more fun though, just couldn't support a family.

6. Who is more sensitive? Tim, he cried at our wedding and at London's birth. I didn't. I tried to cry at London's birth, but the doctors told me to stop because she wasn't getting enough oxygen. So I tried to be sensitive!

7. Who does the laundry? I do, and I don't like anyone else to mess with my system.

8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Tim, and again, I don't like anyone messing with that system either.

9. Who pays the bills? Tim, he's so good about it that I just let him take over.

10. Who cooks more? I do all the cooking. Unless he wants a chorizo sandwich and then it's all him.

11. What meals do you cook together? I don't like big breakfasts, but on occasion we will make pancakes and eggs and he's in charge of the eggs.

12. Who is more stubborn? On the basketball court, Tim, anywhere else, COMPLETELY me. He is much too kind to me at times. I can be a big brat and stay that way until I get my way. Sometimes we have to work on my "coping" skills together :)

13. Who is the first to admit they're wrong? I do, I start feeling so dang guilty because he's so nice and I beg for forgiveness.

14. Who has more siblings? I do, 9 all together with step family.

15. Who wears the pants in the relationship? I usually put up a big enough fuss, but if there's something I know is really important to him, I let him take charge.

16. What do you like to do together? We take a lot of family walks and runs. Usually we'll try to walk to a baseball game and watch it for awhile. We love to take London swimming and we used to play a whole lot of pool before London was born. As long as it's family time, it's fun.

17. Who eats more sweets? Umm.. have you seen the size of my butt compared to his. ME!!

18. Guilty pleasures? We let ourselves buy season tickets to the hockey games down here. It was a little pricy, but it's going to be so fun.

19. How did you meet? In Rexburg, through mutual friends. He was at school and I was waiting to go on my mission.

20. Who asked who out first? Tim asked me out first. A couple nights after we met he called and asked if I wanted to go out. I had a fractured foot and was in a cast, so I wasn't sure if he'd want to take out a hobbler, but he was fine with it.

21. Who kissed who first? He kissed me first, I don't care what he claims :)

22. Who proposed? Him, with some serious promptings on my part.

23. His best features? Tim is seriously the most amazing person I know. I think it's so great how he's earned a doctorate degree. He's such a good dad to his little girl. I try his patience over and over again, but he still keeps on giving and giving to me. He can ALWAYS make me laugh at the most inappropriate times. It's great and I love him!

24. What is his greatest quality? His testimony. His love of the gospel is his best quality.

O.K. it's kind of cheesy, but it's fun to write about your hubby, so feel free to try it out.

Fresh Air!

2008-07-23T19:48:00.002-06:00

The Las Vegas heat can be very suffocating, so when my Uncle Randall invited us to go camping last weekend we were more than happy to attend. We went up to Mt. Charleston and it was refreshingly chilly at night. I even had to dig out London's Idaho jammies!! She did really well. I was nervous about how she'd sleep in a tent, but she went right to sleep and didn't wake up all night. She loves the outdoors, just like her daddy! I like them well enough, but the whole squatting in the woods thing and pulling a HUGE beetle out of my pants almost did me in :) Randall's dutch oven cooking was WONDERFUL and made the whole experience worth it.

Happy Birthday London Katie

2008-06-30T21:21:00.006-06:00

London's cake went from this.....

To this....

And finally this.

Happy first birthday little girl!

exercising baby

2008-05-31T17:55:00.003-06:00

We just got our treadmill put into our house and London decided she needed to exercise.

Timmy's Big Day

2008-05-25T17:37:00.004-06:00

It was Tim's (or as he likes me to call him "My baby's daddy") birthday on Tuesday. His family recommended this cake shop called Nothing Bundt Cake. It was a white chocolate raspberry bundt cake and that's right, all that white stuff is cream cheese frosting. It was tasty. So happy birthday Tim. I'm so glad we're taking this journey called life together and I'm also happy you are finally my age. Now I don't have to be the mature one all the time anymore :)

If you want something done right....do it yourself!!

2008-05-19T22:02:00.002-06:00

Well we finally made it to Las Vegas, but it was quite the fiasco. In FEBRUARY we called NATIONWIDE RELOCATION and scheduled for them to move us on May 10. Well the big moving day came along and no movers showed up, nor did they show up for the next two days. And isn't it great that a moving company wouldn't answer their phones on a weekend. So Monday rolls around and after Tim yelled at about 115 different people, it was discovered that no one even scheduled the move until 2 days before we were supposed to leave and therefore it would delay the move about 4-5 days. Well thanks for telling us Nationwide and thanks to Jared, the big dip we were working with, for not doing your job and being a complete schmuck. What a joke for a company. We scurried to U-Haul, begged some people to help us, and luckily made it down here without many more problems. Tim's boss even let us stay a night in his fancy smancy high rise on the strip to help ease our frustrations. But seriously I about had an ulcer over the whole thing. I will never ever ever schedule for someone to move me again. It's just not worth it. It's sad, but I've really learned in life that you just can't trust too many people. On a happier note we love our home here and we love hanging out with the family we've got here and Tim's job is great so I guess it turned out alright in the end. I'll post some pics soon. One of our favorite past times so far is playing Rock Band with Tim's big family. It's pretty addicting as I'm sure some of you know!

Got Caught

2008-04-22T21:48:00.002-06:00

I thought this picture of London was pretty cute. I sat her down with some toys while I went into the kitchen to clean. I realized that she had been content for WAY too long so I peeked around the corner and she had taken out everything in the diaper bag, removed all the cards from my wallet, and chewed up all my receipts!! That's what is on her chin :) I guess I can't be mad at a face like that. Plus I'm the one that left her in a room alone with such fun stuff :)

Easter Pictures

2008-03-24T21:26:00.008-06:00

He Shoots..He Scores..Hey Goalie, YOU SUCK!!

2008-03-04T21:27:00.004-07:00

This is what the crowd shouts at the Idaho Steelheads' games whenever our team scores a goal. To tell you the truth, it's quite annoying and doesn't even rhyme, but it was very true at the last game we went to. We sat three rows up from the goalie for the other team and the Steelheads scored three times in 45 seconds. It was crazy. He got so much guff from the crowd. It was such a good game though, and by good I mean there was about ten all out fights with helmets and gloves flying off and cold hard punches being thrown. I didn't think I would like that kind of thing, but the intensity is pretty crazy in that arena and soon enough you find yourself screaming "Punch Him!" It's really not of my nature, but I'm a big fan. I told Tim I want to get season tickets to the Las Vegas Wranglers so if anyone wants to come and visit in Vegas we'll make it a date. :)

Presidents day and a sick baby

2008-02-20T21:31:00.003-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa Hunsaker came to visit on presidents day. After we all payed homage to the one of the greatest leaders of our country, Calvin Coolidge, we went and played around town with grandma and grandpa. We had a good time and London is finally warming up to grandma. In fact when this picture was taken she was crying until she saw that the camera was out, than she began to cheese. Grandma let her have part of her ice cream cone and London loved it. After the grandparents left our baby decided to get sick. She started getting a small fever and having a running nose. Her fever has been keeping her up at night and consequently mom has not been getting much sleep either. It was going to be a double dose of grandmas this week, but with the news of London and her cousins being sick Sue decided that there would not be enough Lysol to keep germs away from her. So, no Sue this week. She is going to be coming in about a month when all the carrier monkeys are better.

Road Trippin'

2008-01-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

Poor London. We keep dressing her up in weird things. She seems to like this tie, but wants those socks off! So there's a great song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers entitled "Road Trippin". It's a dandy little beat describing how old friends jump in their car and "go get lost anywhere in the USA." My friends and I used to play it on many a spontaneous road trip, but I feel somehow that this trip will not be as free spirited. Considering it consists of my sister and I, an 8 year old, a 6 year old, two 4 year olds, and two more than likely screaming babies. Add in a snow storm, various fights over which Disney movie to watch, gummie bears and crackers flying at the back of my head, and me trying to calculate how I can jump out the window at 75 mph and still do a safety roll. It should be some great times!! :) But it's all for a good cause. My niece Courtney is getting married and we are so happy for her. It will also be good to see my brothers and their families. We rarely get together so we must cherish these moments.

Latest happenings

2008-01-23T18:19:00.001-07:00

Well, it has been wicked cold here in Boise, but we must say we are so glad we are not in any other part of Idaho where it is colder.

We have some big happenings occurring in our house hold. Tim recently accepted a fourth year rotation/future job in Las Vegas. So it appears that we may not live in Idaho much longer. We will be moving down the end of May. That should be the perfect time to move. Vegas in late May.
As for our little London she is growing very fast and starting to become quite sassy. She loves eating real food and becomes quickly agitated if we don't share our food with her.

As for me I have been spending long hours on the internet attempting to become an expert at blackjack. I figure that if i am going to live in Vegas, gambling may be a viable method of earning a second income.